Mobile terminal apparatus for automatically generating/changing wireless local area network (WLAN) access information and method for controlling the same

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for automatically generating/changing Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access information are provided. The apparatus includes an access information management database for storing pre-registered WLAN access information of a plurality of WLAN Access Points (APs). The apparatus also includes an access information collector for collecting information for WLAN APs being accessible at a current position of the apparatus, and an access information analyzer for analyzing the collected information, and creating a list of the accessible WLAN APs. The apparatus further includes a comparator for comparing the list with the WLAN access information to determine if the WLAN APs match. The apparatus additionally includes an access information automatic changer for automatically changing current WLAN access information according to matched APs. The apparatus includes an access information generator for automatically generating new WLAN access information when no WLAN access information is matched with the APs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser.No. 15/685,583, filed on Aug. 24, 2017, which is a continuation priorapplication Ser. No. 15/261,363, filed on Sep. 9, 2016, which has issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 9,775,106 on Sep. 26, 2017, which is a continuation ofprior application Ser. No. 14/980,758, filed on Dec. 28, 2015, which hasissued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,572,094 on Feb. 14, 2017, which is acontinuation of prior application Ser. No. 12/947,405, filed on Nov. 16,2010, which has issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,232,464 on Jan. 5, 2016; whichwas a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 10/439,653, filed onMay 16, 2003, which claimed the benefit under 35 U.S.C § 119(a) of aKorean patent application filed on Oct. 28, 2002 in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office and assigned Serial number 10-2002-0065897,the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal apparatus forautomatically generating/changing WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)access information and a method for controlling the same, and moreparticularly to a mobile terminal apparatus for automaticallygenerating/changing WLAN access information of a user's mobile terminalwhen the user of a WLAN moves from one place to another to provide theuser with maximum mobility, resulting in greater convenience for theuser, and a method for the controlling the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the increasing development of the next generation wired/wirelessintegrated technologies, many developers have conducted intensiveresearch into WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) architecture serving asa major component of next generation communication architectures basedon such wired/wireless integrated technologies. It is expected that IT(Internet Technology) industries will rapidly change with thedevelopment of such WLAN technologies. Particularly, the WLANarchitecture has been developed for use with a variety of mobileterminals such as notebook computers and PDAs (Personal DigitalAssistants), with the result that an overall service area of the WLANhas become wider and more diverse.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view illustrating a conventional WLANarchitecture. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional WLAN architectureincludes an AP (Access Point) 20 hard-wired to Internet 10. Mobileterminal devices 30 such as a notebook computer 30 a or a PDA 30 b canwirelessly communicate with the AP 20.

The AP 20 connects a wired LAN with a wireless LAN to enable any user ofthe mobile terminal devices 30 to freely surf the Internet 10, andoperates over a distance in the range of 20˜30 m in an internalenvironment, or over a distance in the range of 100˜150 m in an externalenvironment. The AP 20 can be wirelessly connected either to mobileterminal devices 30 for use in buildings where the devices 30 arelocated within a radius of about 20˜30 m from the installation area ofAP 20, or to other mobile terminal devices 30 for use outside where thedevices 30 are located within a radius of about 100˜150 m from theinstallation area of AP 20. To move from one location to another, a WLANuser must change WLAN access information of the mobile terminal devices30 to be classified according to WLAN service request areas and theirAPs; however, this may seriously limit expansion of a serviceable areaof the WLAN for guaranteeing the user a free access thereto.

For example, in the case where the WLAN user moves to his or her officeafter accessing the WLAN at home, he or she must change prescribed WLANaccess information of his or her mobile terminal to another WLAN accessinformation for the office area, resulting in inconvenience to the user.

To solve this problem, conventional WLAN users have manuallypre-registered WLAN access information (for example, AP setupinformation related to the WLAN and TCP/IP-related information) ofprescribed areas they frequently use in their mobile terminal devices,such that they manually select their desired WLAN access informationfrom among the pre-registered WLAN access information whenever they movefrom one place to another place in a WLAN service area.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a conventional WLAN accessinformation setup procedure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a user registers prescribed regional information ofa plurality of areas he or she wishes in his or her mobile terminal atstep S10. In this case, the regional information registered in theuser's mobile terminal includes AP setup information for use in regionalAPs and network setup information of any mobile terminal adapted toaccess the APs. In the case where the user requests to search for thepre-registered WLAN access information at step S20 after moving from aninitial area to another area, a plurality of WLAN access informationpre-registered at step S10 are displayed on a display of his or hermobile terminal at step S30. If the user selects one WLAN accessinformation related to any area he or she wishes from among theplurality of WLAN access information at step S40, the user's mobileterminal changes its current WLAN access information to another accessinformation on the basis of the selected WLAN access information at stepS50.

Although the aforesaid conventional WLAN access information setupprocedure shown in FIG. 2 has an advantage in that it reduces the user'sinconvenience of manually entering appropriate regional WLAN accessinformation in his or her mobile terminal whenever the user moves fromone place to another place, other disadvantages still remain, that is,the user must pre-register a plurality of WLAN access information in hisor her mobile terminal and must manually change prior WLAN accessinformation to another WLAN access information for his or her desiredarea whenever he or she moves from one area to another area. Moreover,in the event that the user moves to another place not pre-registered inthe mobile terminal, it is necessary for the user to manually enter newWLAN access information in the mobile terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobileterminal apparatus for automatically generating/changing WLAN accessinformation of a user's mobile terminal when the user of a WLAN movesfrom one place to another place to afford the user maximum mobility, anda method for the controlling the same.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above andother objects can be accomplished by the provision of a mobile terminalapparatus. The mobile terminal apparatus includes an access informationmanagement database (DB) for storing pre-registered Wireless Local AreaNetwork (WLAN) access information of a plurality of WLAN Access Points(APs) for service positions of a plurality of WLANs accessible by themobile terminal apparatus. The apparatus also includes an accessinformation collector for collecting information for one or more WLANAPs being accessible at a current position of the mobile terminalapparatus, and an access information analyzer for analyzing thecollected information of the access information collector, and creatinga list of the one or more WLAN APs accessible at the current position ofthe mobile terminal apparatus based on the analysis. The apparatusfurther includes a comparator for comparing the list of the one or moreWLAN APs with the WLAN access information stored in the accessinformation management DB to determine if the one or more WLAN APs matchthe plurality of WLAN APs. The apparatus additionally includes an accessinformation automatic changer for automatically changing a current WLANaccess information of the mobile terminal apparatus into other WLANaccess information corresponding to one or more matched APs inaccordance with a result of the comparing in the comparator. Theapparatus includes an access information generator for automaticallygenerating new WLAN access information to automatically change thecurrent WLAN access information when no WLAN access information ismatched with the APs contained in the list of the one or more WLAN APsin accordance with the result of the comparing in the comparator.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method for automatically generating/changing WLAN (WirelessLocal Area Network) access information. An access information managementdatabase (DB) is constructed for storing WLAN access information of aplurality of WLAN Access Points (APs) for service positions of aplurality of WLANs accessible by a mobile terminal apparatus.Information of all WLAN APs being accessible at a current position ofthe mobile terminal apparatus is collected on the basis of a prescribedaccess information collection condition. The collected information isanalyzed, and a list of one or more WLAN APs accessible at the currentposition of the mobile terminal apparatus is created based on theanalysis. The list of the one or more WLAN APs is compared with WLANaccess information stored in the access information management DB todetermine if the one or more WLAN APs match the plurality of WLAN APs.Current WLAN access information of the mobile terminal apparatus isautomatically changed to another WLAN based on WLAN access informationmatched with the one or more WLAN APs. New WLAN access information isautomatically generated when there is no WLAN access information matchedwith the one or more WLAN APs in the access information management DB.WLAN access information of the mobile terminal apparatus isautomatically changed on the basis of the new WLAN access informationgenerated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more clearly understood from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view illustrating a conventional WLANarchitecture;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a conventional WLAN accessinformation setup procedure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile terminal device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4A illustrates a database configuration of the mobile terminaldevice shown in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4B illustrates a storage configuration of WLAN access informationin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for automaticallygenerating WLAN access information in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for adding WLAN accessinformation to current WLAN access information in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for automaticallychanging a current WLAN access information to another WLAN accessinformation in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for adding WLAN accessinformation to current WLAN access information in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detailwith reference to the annexed drawings. In the drawings, the same orsimilar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals even thoughthey are depicted in different drawings. In the following description, adetailed description of known functions and configurations incorporatedherein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of thepresent invention unclear.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a block diagram of a mobile terminaldevice in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 3, the mobile terminal device 100 includes an accessinformation management database (DB) 110, an access information manager120, an access information collector 130, an access information analyzer140, a comparator 150, an access information automatic changer 160, andan access information generator 170. The mobile terminal device 100 mayinclude other features and components, such as a display, a key entryunit, etc., even though they are not shown in FIG. 3.

The access information management DB 110 stores pre-registered WLANaccess information of the mobile terminal device 100. In more detail, auser of the mobile terminal device 100 commands the access informationmanagement DB 110 to store prescribed WLAN access information (forexample, AP setup information related to the WLAN and TCP/IP-relatedinformation) pre-registered for his or her desired area.

The access information manager 120 manages the access informationmanagement DB 110 upon receiving external commands. For example, theaccess information manager 120 transmits to the comparator 150 WLANaccess information stored in the access information management DB 110upon receiving a request signal from the comparator 150, or receivesWLAN access information newly generated from the access informationgenerator 170 for storage in the access information management DB 110.

The access information collector 130 collects all the information of allthe WLAN APs available at a current position of the mobile terminaldevice 100. In more detail, an operating condition of the accessinformation collector 130 may be selectively changed/set up by either auser or a manufacturer of the mobile terminal device 100. For example,the access information collector 130 may be set up to operate at aprescribed time at which the mobile terminal device 100 is reset orstarts operating, or may be set up to operate when the mobile terminaldevice 100 moves to another place. The mobile terminal device 100analyzes in real time a value of field intensity received from its ownAP. In this case, if the reception field intensity value is outside of apredetermined or prescribed reference range of the reception fieldintensity, i.e., if the reception field intensity is lower than areference field intensity value, it is determined that the mobileterminal device 100 has moved from its current place to another place.As another example, if there occurs any overload in the AP to which themobile terminal device 100 is connected, the mobile terminal device 100may set up the access information collector 130 to change a current APto another accessible AP. Therefore, the mobile terminal device 100analyzes in real time the amount of load of the AP. If the amount ofload of the AP is outside of a predetermined or prescribed referencerange, it is determined that an overload in the AP has occurred. Also,the mobile terminal device 100 may set up the access informationcollector 130 to operate in either one or both of the above cases.

In the meantime, information collected by the access informationcollector 130 includes among other things, a MAC (Media Access Control)address, a SSID (Service Set IDentifier), reception intensity, transferrate, and WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) setup information.

The access information analyzer 140 analyzes the information collectionresult of the access information collector 130, and generates a list ofWLAN APs accessible at a current position of the mobile terminal device100 on the basis of the analyzed result. For instance, provided thatWLAN APs accessible at a current position of the mobile terminal device100 are set to AP#1, AP#2, and AP#3, the list of APs is created using aMAC-address of each AP as a key signal.

The comparator 150 compares the list of APs transmitted from the accessinformation analyzer 140 to the comparator 150 with WLAN accessinformation stored in the access information management DB 110, suchthat it can determine whether there is a matching AP between the list ofAPs and the WLAN access information.

Upon receiving the result of such comparison from the comparator 150,the access information automatic changer 160 automatically changes WLANaccess information of the mobile terminal device 100 on the basis ofWLAN access information matched with any AP contained in the list ofAPs.

In the case where there is no WLAN access information matched with an APcontained in the list of APs, the access information generator 170automatically generates new WLAN access information. In more detail, theaccess information generator 170 combines one wired network informationamong a plurality of wired network information pre-registered in themobile terminal device 100 with information of a prescribed AP among aplurality of APs contained in the list of APs, and thereby automaticallygenerates new WLAN access information. For this operation, the accessinformation generator 170 selects at least one AP having a prescribedcondition, such as, for example, whether the reception field intensityof the mobile terminal device 100 as determined from informationtransmitted from the AP, or the amount of the AP's load, is in aprescribed reference range, from among the APs contained in the list ofAPs. In other words, the access information generator 170 generates newWLAN access information on the basis of the information of the selectedAPs. The access information generator 170 transmits the new WLAN accessinformation to the comparator 150, such that current WLAN accessinformation of the mobile terminal device 100 is automatically changedto another WLAN access information on the basis of the new WLAN accessinformation by the access information automatic changer 160. The accessinformation generator 170 additionally registers such automaticallygenerated WLAN access information in the access information managementDB 110 over the access information manager 120.

FIG. 4A is a view illustrating a database configuration of the mobileterminal device 100 shown in FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. Referring to FIG. 4A, WLAN access information 200stored in the access information management DB 110 includes an APinformation field 210 and a network information field 220 of anyterminal.

The AP information field 210 stores setup information of any AP which isconnected to the Internet by wire and provides WLAN service for mobileterminal devices located within a prescribed distance range. In moredetail, representative examples of such AP setup information stored inthe AP information field 210 are a MAC address of each AP, a SSID(Service Set IDentifier), reception intensity, transfer rate, and WEP(Wired Equivalent Privacy) setup information, etc.

The network information field 220 stores network information of mobileterminal device 100 corresponding to any AP stored in the AP informationfield 210. Representative examples of such network information stored inthe network information field 220 are an IP address of the mobileterminal device 100, gateway information, a subnet mask, and DNS (DomainName Server) information, etc.

FIG. 4B is a view illustrating a storage configuration of WLAN accessinformation having the database configuration shown in FIG. 4A inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 4B, an AP MAC address such as ‘00:01:02:98:8A:63’ and IPinformation such as ‘165.210.130.121’ are stored in the database as WLANaccess information, and the AP MAC address is matched with the IPinformation.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for automaticallygenerating WLAN access information in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, a method forautomatically generating/changing WLAN access information willhereinafter be described in more detail.

The mobile terminal device 100 constructs access information managementDB 110 for storing WLAN access information therein at step S110. In moredetail, a user registers prescribed information of several areas he orshe wishes in his or her mobile terminal device 100 at step S110. Theuser utilizes a data input device such as a keypad (not shown) of themobile terminal device 100 to enter his or her desired information atstep S110. In this case, the information registered in the user's mobileterminal device 100 includes AP setup information for use in regionalAPs and network setup information of the mobile terminal device 100connected to the APs. A representative example of the access informationmanagement DB 110 constructed at step S110 is shown in FIG. 4A.

In this way, if the access information management DB 110 is constructedat step S110, then the mobile terminal device 100 determines at stepS120 whether a prescribed condition for collecting WLAN accessinformation is satisfied. The prescribed condition for collecting theWLAN access information may be selectively changed/set up by either auser or a manufacturer of the mobile terminal device 100. Thisprescribed condition for collecting WLAN access information collectionis similar to the aforesaid condition of the access informationcollector 130 shown in FIG. 3. That is, the operating condition of theaccess information collector 130 is determined depending on reset orbooting information of the mobile terminal device 100, position changeinformation of the mobile terminal device 100, and overload informationof the mobile terminal device 100. Detailed descriptions thereof willherein be omitted because they are similar to those of the accessinformation collector 130 shown in FIG. 3.

In the case where the mobile terminal device 100 satisfies theprescribed condition for collecting WLAN access information at stepS120, information of all the WLAN APs being accessible at a currentposition of the mobile terminal device 100 is collected at step S130.The access information analyzer 140 analyzes the collected information,and creates the list of WLAN APs being accessible at a current positionof the mobile terminal device 100 at step S140.

Then, the mobile terminal device 100 loads at step S150 WLAN accessinformation configured and registered in the access informationmanagement DB 110 at step S110, and compares at step S160 the WLANaccess information with the list of APs created at step S140. In moredetail, the comparator 150 determines at step S160 whether there is amatching AP between the WLAN access information and the list of APs.

If it is determined at step S160 that there is such a matching APbetween the WLAN access information and the list of APs, the accessinformation automatic changer 160 automatically changes WLAN accessinformation of the mobile terminal device 100 on the basis of the WLANaccess information matched with any AP contained in the APs' list atstep S170. Otherwise, in the case where there is no matching AP betweenthe WLAN access information and the APs' list, the access informationgenerator 170 adds new WLAN access information to current WLAN accessinformation at step S180, i.e., automatically creates new WLAN accessinformation at step S180, and then the process returns to step S150.Therefore, at steps S150˜S170, WLAN access information of the mobileterminal device 100 is automatically changed on the basis of the WLANaccess information created at step S180.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure S180 for adding WLANaccess information to current WLAN access information in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIGS. 3 and 6,the access information generator 170 selects one AP from among APscontained in the APs' list at step S181 to add WLAN access informationto current WLAN access information. For example, the access informationgenerator 170 selects at least one AP having a prescribed conditionwherein either reception field intensity of the mobile terminal device100 is within a prescribed range on the basis of information transmittedfrom the AP, or the amount of the AP's load is in a prescribed referencerange, from among the APs contained in the APs' list. Then, onearbitrary network information among a plurality of the networkinformation stored in the mobile terminal device 100 is loaded at stepS183. In this case, the network information is stored in a prescribedstorage position or memory of the mobile terminal device 100, in a knownmanner.

If prescribed preparations for generating WLAN access information areprovided as the above, the access information generator 170 combines theone AP selected at step S181 with network information loaded at stepS183, and thereby automatically creates new WLAN access information atstep S185. Thereafter, it is determined at step S187 whether a networkstatus between the mobile terminal device 100 and the APs is normal onthe basis of the new WLAN access information created at step S185.

If it is determined at step S187 that a network status between themobile terminal device 100 and the APs is abnormal, steps S183˜S187 forgenerating the successive WLAN access information are repeated.Otherwise, if it is determined at step S187 that a network statusbetween the mobile terminal device 100 and the APs is normal, the WLANaccess information created at step S185 is additionally stored in theaccess information management DB 110 at step S189.

A method for automatically generating/changing WLAN access informationaccording to the present invention will hereinafter be described withreference to FIGS. 7˜8 for better understanding of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for automaticallychanging WLAN access information to another information in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Steps S210˜S280 shown inFIG. 7 respectively correspond to steps S130˜S170 shown in FIG. 5. Inmore detail, step S210 of FIG. 7 corresponds to step S130 of FIG. 5,step S220 of FIG. 7 corresponds to step S140 of FIG. 5, steps S240˜S250of FIG. 7 correspond to step S160 of FIG. 5, step S260 of FIG. 7corresponds to step S170 of FIG. 5, step S270 of FIG. 7 corresponds tostep S180 of FIG. 5, and step S280 of FIG. 7 corresponds to step S150 ofFIG. 5, such that their detailed description will herein be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for automaticallygenerating WLAN access information in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Steps S271˜S279 of FIG. 8 respectively correspond to steps S181˜S189 ofFIG. 6. In more detail, step S271 of FIG. 8 corresponds to step S181 ofFIG. 6, step S273 of FIG. 8 corresponds to step S183 of FIG. 6, stepS275 of FIG. 8 corresponds to step S185 of FIG. 6, step S277 of FIG. 8corresponds to step S187 of FIG. 6, and step S279 of FIG. 8 correspondsto step S189 of FIG. 6, such that their detailed description willhereinafter be omitted. Particularly, a prescribed condition forselecting any AP at step S271 is shown in FIG. 8. In this case, the APis selected based on a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) status,transmission/reception intensity, data rate, and the number ofserviceable associations. Particularly, the lower the number ofserviceable associations, the better the AP status.

As is apparent from the above description, a mobile terminal apparatusand a method for controlling the same according to the present inventionautomatically generate/change WLAN access information of a user's mobileterminal device when the user of a WLAN moves from one place to anotherplace, such that the user can freely use the WLAN without setting up anadditional process in his or her preferred areas. In brief, the presentinvention guarantees maximum mobility to the user, and results ingreater convenience for the user, resulting in broader application ofthe WLAN.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed forillustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatvarious modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in theaccompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for maintaining and utilizing wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) information by an electronic device, themethod comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a first signalfrom a first WLAN access point (AP); based at least on analyzing thereceived first signal, obtaining, by the electronic device, firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP and first securityinformation of the first WLAN AP; determining, by the electronic device,that a network status between the electronic device and the first WLANAP is normal; based at least on the determining that the network statusbetween the electronic device and the first WLAN AP is normal,automatically adding, by the electronic device, first WLAN informationfor automatically connecting to the first WLAN AP to a set of WLANinformation for automatically connecting to WLAN APs stored in theelectronic device, wherein the first WLAN information for automaticallyconnecting to the first WLAN AP is generated by the electronic devicebased at least on the obtained first identification information and theobtained first security information; receiving, by the electronicdevice, a second signal from a second WLAN AP; based at least onanalyzing the received second signal, obtaining, by the electronicdevice, second identification information of the second WLAN AP andsecond security information of the second WLAN AP; based at least on thesecond identification information of the second WLAN AP and the set ofWLAN information including the first WLAN information, identifyingsecond WLAN information included in the set of WLAN informationincluding the first WLAN information; and based at least on theidentified second WLAN information included in the set of WLANinformation including the first WLAN information, automaticallyconnecting to the second WLAN AP by the electronic device, wherein thefirst identification information of the first WLAN AP includes a firstservice set identifier (SSID), wherein the second identificationinformation of the second WLAN AP includes a second SSID, and whereinthe set of WLAN information for automatically connecting to WLAN APsincludes an SSID and security information.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the first WLAN information for automatically connecting to thefirst WLAN AP is not added to a set of WLAN information forautomatically connecting to WLAN APs stored in the electronic devicebased at least on determining the network status between the electronicdevice and the first WLAN AP is abnormal.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the security information includes the first security informationand the second security information.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: obtaining, by the electronic device, load informationassociated with the second WLAN AP based at least on analyzing thereceived second signal.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:based at least on the obtained load information associated with thesecond WLAN AP, identifying a third WLAN AP for the electronic device toconnect to.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: communicating,by the electronic device, with the first WLAN AP based on the firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP before automaticallyadding the first WLAN information to the set of WLAN information.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the communicating with the first WLAN APcomprises receiving, from the first WLAN AP, information indicating thatthe first WLAN AP is connectable.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein thedetermining that the network status between the electronic device andthe first WLAN AP is normal is based on receiving connectableinformation from the first WLAN AP.
 9. An electronic device comprising:a memory storing instructions; and a processor configured to execute thestored instructions to at least: control to receive a first signal froma first WLAN access point (AP); based at least on analyzing the receivedfirst signal, control to obtain first identification information of thefirst WLAN AP and first security information of the first WLAN AP;control to determine that a network status between the electronic deviceand the first WLAN AP is normal; based at least on determining that thenetwork status between the electronic device and the first WLAN AP isnormal, control to automatically add first WLAN information forautomatically connecting to the first WLAN AP to a set of WLANinformation for automatically connecting to WLAN APs stored in theelectronic device, wherein the first WLAN information for automaticallyconnecting to the first WLAN AP is generated by the electronic devicebased at least on the obtained first identification information and theobtained first security information; control to receive a second signalfrom a second WLAN AP; based at least on analyzing the received secondsignal, control to obtain second identification information of thesecond WLAN AP and second security information of the second WLAN AP;based at least on the second identification information of the secondWLAN AP and the set of WLAN information including the first WLANinformation, control to identify second WLAN information included in theset of WLAN information including the first WLAN information; and basedat least on the identified second WLAN information included in the setof WLAN information including the first WLAN information, control toautomatically connect to the second WLAN AP, wherein the firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP includes a first serviceset identifier (SSID), wherein the second identification information ofthe second WLAN AP includes a second SSID, and wherein the set of WLANinformation for automatically connecting to WLAN APs includes an SSIDand security information.
 10. The electronic device of claim 9, whereinthe first WLAN information for automatically connecting to the firstWLAN AP is not added to a set of WLAN information for automaticallyconnecting to WLAN APs stored in the electronic device based at least ondetermining the network status between the electronic device and thefirst WLAN AP is abnormal.
 11. The electronic device of claim 9, whereinthe security information includes the first security information and thesecond security information.
 12. The electronic device of claim 9,wherein the processor is configured to execute the stored instructionsfurther to control to obtain load information associated with the secondWLAN AP based at least on analyzing the received second signal.
 13. Theelectronic device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured toexecute the stored instructions further to control to identify a thirdWLAN AP for the electronic device to connect to based at least on theobtained load information associated with the second WLAN AP.
 14. Theelectronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured toexecute the stored instructions further to control to communicate, bythe electronic device, with the first WLAN AP based on the firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP before automaticallyadding the first WLAN information to the set of WLAN information. 15.The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configuredto execute the stored instructions to control to communicate with thefirst WLAN AP by controlling to receive, from the first WLAN AP,information indicating that the first WLAN AP is connectable.
 16. Theelectronic device of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured toexecute the stored instructions to control to determine that the networkstatus between the electronic device and the first WLAN AP is normalbased on receiving connectable information from the first WLAN AP.
 17. Amethod for maintaining and utilizing wireless local area network (WLAN)information by an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving,by the electronic device, a first signal from a first WLAN access point(AP); based at least on analyzing the received first signal, obtaining,by the electronic device, first identification information of the firstWLAN AP and first security information of the first WLAN AP;determining, by the electronic device, that the electronic device is ina successful connection with the first WLAN AP; based at least on thedetermining that the electronic device is in a successful connectionwith the first WLAN AP, automatically adding, by the electronic device,first WLAN information for automatically connecting to the first WLAN APto a set of WLAN information for automatically connecting to WLAN APsstored in the electronic device, wherein the first WLAN information forautomatically connecting to the first WLAN AP is formed by theelectronic device based at least on the obtained first identificationinformation and the obtained first security information; receiving, bythe electronic device, a second signal from a second WLAN AP; based atleast on analyzing the received second signal, obtaining, by theelectronic device, second identification information of the second WLANAP and second security information of the second WLAN AP; based at leaston the second identification information of the second WLAN AP and theset of WLAN information including the first WLAN information,identifying second WLAN information included in the set of WLANinformation including the first WLAN information; and based at least onthe identified second WLAN information included in the set of WLANinformation including the first WLAN information, automaticallyconnecting to the second WLAN AP by the electronic device, wherein thefirst identification information of the first WLAN AP includes a firstservice set identifier (SSID), wherein the second identificationinformation of the second WLAN AP includes a second SSID, and whereinthe set of WLAN information for automatically connecting to WLAN APsincludes an SSID and security information.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the first WLAN information for automatically connecting to thefirst WLAN AP is not added to a set of WLAN information forautomatically connecting to WLAN APs stored in the electronic devicebased at least on determining that the electronic device is not in asuccessful connection with the first WLAN AP.
 19. The method of claim17, wherein the security information includes the first securityinformation and the second security information.
 20. The method of claim17, further comprising: obtaining, by the electronic device, loadinformation associated with the second WLAN AP based at least onanalyzing the received second signal.
 21. The method of claim 20,further comprising: based at least on the obtained load informationassociated with the second WLAN AP, identifying a third WLAN AP for theelectronic device to connect to.
 22. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: communicating, by the electronic device, with the first WLANAP based on the first identification information of the first WLAN APbefore adding the first WLAN information to the set of WLAN information.23. The method of claim 22, wherein the communicating with the firstWLAN AP comprises receiving, from the first WLAN AP, informationindicating that the first WLAN AP is connectable.
 24. An electronicdevice comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processorconfigured to execute the stored instructions to at least: control toreceive a first signal from a first WLAN access point (AP); based atleast on analyzing the received first signal, control to obtain firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP and first securityinformation of the first WLAN AP; control to determine that a networkstatus between the electronic device and the first WLAN AP is normal;based at least on determining that the network status between theelectronic device and the first WLAN AP is normal, automatically controlto add first WLAN information for automatically connecting to the firstWLAN AP to a set of WLAN information for automatically connecting toWLAN APs stored in the electronic device, wherein the first WLANinformation for connecting to the first WLAN AP is automatically formedby the electronic device based at least on the obtained firstidentification information and the obtained first security information;control to receive a second signal from a second WLAN AP; based at leaston analyzing the received second signal, control to obtain secondidentification information of the second WLAN AP and second securityinformation of the second WLAN AP; based at least on the secondidentification information of the second WLAN AP and the set of WLANinformation including the first WLAN information, control to identifysecond WLAN information included in the set of WLAN informationincluding the first WLAN information; and based at least on theidentified second WLAN information included in the set of WLANinformation including the first WLAN information, control toautomatically connect to the second WLAN AP, wherein the firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP includes a first serviceset identifier (SSID), wherein the second identification information ofthe second WLAN AP includes a second SSID, and wherein the set of WLANinformation for automatically connecting to WLAN APs includes an SSIDand security information.
 25. The electronic device of claim 24, whereinthe first WLAN information for automatically connecting to the firstWLAN AP is not added to a set of WLAN information for automaticallyconnecting to WLAN APs stored in the electronic device based at least ondetermining that the electronic device is not in a successful connectionwith the first WLAN AP.
 26. The electronic device of claim 24, whereinthe security information includes the first security information and thesecond security information.
 27. The electronic device of claim 24,wherein the processor is configured to execute the stored instructionsfurther to control to obtain load information associated with the secondWLAN AP based at least on analyzing the received second signal.
 28. Theelectronic device of claim 27, wherein the processor is configured toexecute the stored instructions further to control to identify a thirdWLAN AP for the electronic device to connect to based at least on theobtained load information associated with the second WLAN AP.
 29. Theelectronic device of claim 24, wherein the processor is configured toexecute the stored instructions further to control to communicate, bythe electronic device, with the first WLAN AP based on the firstidentification information of the first WLAN AP before adding the firstWLAN information to the set of WLAN information.
 30. The electronicdevice of claim 29, wherein the processor is configured to execute thestored instructions to control to communicate with the first WLAN AP bycontrolling to receive, from the first WLAN AP, information indicatingthat the first WLAN AP is connectable.